Report
Pulling does the double to end Zandvoort in-season testing quickest
Abbi Pulling swept the board on the second and final day of in-season testing, heading the timing sheets in both sessions around the Circuit Zandvoort.
Relishing the ever-changing wet-to-dry conditions, Pulling’s name remained a constant presence in the top spot. She rounded out the morning with a 1:44.311 to lead Rodin Motorsport teammate Jessica Edgar by 1.3s.
Continuing her form into the afternoon, the Alpine driver claimed the fastest lap of the two-day test in the drier second session. Clocking in a 1:36.045, Pulling headed the pack by three tenths to Ferrari’s Maya Weug and Mercedes’ Doriane Pin.
MORNING
Day 1 pacesetter Pulling immediately set about picking up where she left off, setting the early benchmark at 1:51.396. Two Red Flags momentarily halted running inside the opening half an hour around a slippery Zandvoort, with Chloe Chambers finding the gravel at Turn 7 followed by Amna Al Qubaisi at Turn 9.
PREMA Racing’s Weug and Pin each took charge of the timing sheets on the restart, but it wouldn’t be long before Pulling returned to the front on a 1:46.469.
On-off downpours left the field facing very tricky conditions as they tried to find limit around Zandvoort’s slippery banks. A further four Red Flags interrupted running after teammates Lola Lovinfosse and Edgar each visited the Turn 9 gravel trap. Pin later went off at the same corner, whilst Edgar beached her #17 car in the gravel at Turn 7.
The session resumed with just over 30 minutes remaining and Pulling wasted no time, shaving two seconds off her personal best. One final improvement to a 1:44.311 breezed her clear of the pack at the chequered flag. Edgar bounced back to seal the second-fastest time, 1.359s off her fellow Briton’s pace and Red Bull Racing’s Hamda Al Qubaisi completed the top three.
Carrie Schreiner was fourth for Kick Sauber ahead of Williams’ Lia Block and Tina Hausmann in the #19 Aston Martin car. Chambers claimed seventh with Weug, Tommy Hilfiger’s Nerea Martí and Bianca Bustamante rounding out the morning order for McLaren.
AFTERNOON
As the field filtered back out for the final three hours of testing, Pulling once again took control of the timesheets. The Alpine driver posted a 1:41.867 before Amna Al Qubaisi caught the gravel at Turn 10 gravel, bringing out the Red Flag inside the opening 15 minutes.
Back to it, Weug momentarily went fastest, but Pulling was proving difficult to beat as she improved to a 1:36.484. Her benchmark was eventually outdone by both Pin and then Weug but Pulling showed she still had plenty of pace left to unlock. She clocked in a 1:36.045 to resume her hold on the top spot by three tenths.
With the Dutch circuit drying out, the last hour of running saw one brief interruption after Amna Al Qubaisi went off at Turn 13. Whilst the field looked to maximise their mileage, Edgar kept herself busiest with 51 laps to her name, but it was Pulling’s time that remained unbeatable.
Weug and Pin held onto their top three spots, with Martí close at hand, only 0.069s adrift of the Mercedes driver in fourth. Hausmann ensured a sweep of top five times for PREMA ahead of PUMA driver Aurelia Nobels. Schreiner closed out her two-day in seventh ahead of Red Bull Ford’s Emely De Heus, Bustamante and Hamda Al Qubaisi.
Drivers and teams won’t have long to wait before getting back on track, as the 2024 F1 ACADEMY season heads to Miami for Round 2 from May 3-5.